Proposed Resolution, Special Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in the Aftermath of the 74th General Convention
Saturday, September 27, St. Martin's, Monroeville
UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTIONS OF THE 74TH GENERAL CONVENTION
1. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh holds that the 74th
General Convention of the Episcopal Church has exceeded its authority
and departed from its constitution, in confirming the election as
bishop of a non-celibate homosexual man and in permitting same-sex
blessings, separating itself from the Anglican Communion and from the
One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, directly rejecting its solemn
responsibility to uphold and propagate the historic Faith and Order, as
set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. These acts are thus held to be
null and void, and of no effect, in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.
APPEAL FOR INTERVENTION AND RECOGNITION BY ANGLICAN COMMUNION PRIMATES
2. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh joins the call of
the orthodox bishops at the 74th General Convention to the Primates of
the Anglican Communion for intervention in the pastoral emergency created
by the apostasy of the 74th General Convention. Further, the Church in
the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, together with those other dioceses,
bishops, clergy and congregations who continue to uphold and propagate
the historic Faith and Order, seeks recognition by the international
Primates Meeting as the legitimate expression of the Episcopal Church
in the United States of America, and seeks acknowledgment as the bona
fide expression of the Anglican Communion in the United States of America.
EPISCOPAL CARE FOR BELEAGURED CLERGY AND CONGREGTIONS
3. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh further asks the
Primates of the Anglican Communion to address the matter of episcopal
oversight and care, across existing diocesan boundaries, to those
clergy and congregations, committed to the historic Faith and Order,
in dioceses where the offending actions of the 74th General Convention
have been approved or implemented.
MISSIONARY VOCATION AND MISSION FUNDING
4. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh re-commits itself
to its missionary identity and purpose: locally, regionally, nationally,
and globally. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh further
re-commits itself to aggressive resourcing (human and financial) of
missionary endeavors both within and beyond the geographical boundaries
of the diocese. As a consequence of the General Convention apostasy
and in response to the present pastoral emergency thereby created, this
Special Convention also directs that no assessment funds received from
parishes for work beyond the diocese any longer be sent to the Domestic
and Foreign Missionary Society (the Episcopal Church in the United States
of America), and henceforth be diverted, as Bishop and Council shall
see fit, to those Anglican or Episcopal missionary agencies, dioceses,
and structures that serve to uphold and propagate the historic Faith and
Order, especially to those orthodox missionary works adversely affected
by reduced national church resources.
DISSENTING CONGREGATIONS IN PITTSBURGH
5. The Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh expresses its
commitment to those congregations seeking some interim disassociation from
the actions of this Special Convention (until the Primates have rendered
judgment as to how these matters of Faith and Order are to be resolved)
such that said congregations be permitted to redirect all, or some,
of their diocesan assessment, negotiating this matter with Bishop and
Council, as well as whether some alternative episcopal oversight shall
be arranged.
TITLE TO PROPERTY
6. Property held by the Board of Trustees of the Church in the Episcopal
Diocese of Pittsburgh for the use of a Parish, Mission Fellowship or
Diocesan Organization belongs beneficially to such Parish, Mission
Fellowship or Diocesan Organization only. No adverse claim to such
beneficial interest by any other body, by the Diocese, or by The
Episcopal Church in the United States of America is acknowledged, but
rather is expressly denied. All other property of the Church in the
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is held by the Board of Trustees for
the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh for those exempt religious purposes
within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States of
America. Such exempt religious purposes shall be those determined by the
Convention of the Church in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the
appropriate officers elected by it. No adverse claim to such beneficial
interest by The Episcopal Church in the United States of America or any
other body is acknowledged, but rather is expressly denied.
Final
8/24/03